Trump Coin Plummets 80%: $2B Wiped Out, Insiders Profit

The TRUMP Coin, launched in mid-January, has seen a dramatic decline of nearly 80% from its initial price of $76 to $16. This sharp drop has exposed over 810,000 investors to losses totaling more than $2 billion, according to a report by the New York Times (NYT) and blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

During the first 19 days of trading, a total of 813,294 wallets registered losses. The losers, who paid more for the token than its current value, have cumulatively lost $2 billion in actual or paper losses. Meanwhile, a staggering $6.6 billion in profit was netted by early traders and insiders.

Less than 700,000 traders profited from the TRUMP memecoin, with most early winners being large players. Nansen, another analytics firm, stated that 31 large early traders made $669 million in profits in a matter of days. Some large players were reportedly insiders who positioned themselves timely.

The first-ever account to make a public bet on TRUMP, with a +$1M stake, was reportedly created 3 hours before the President announced the crypto on 17 January. The memecoin contract address was created 12 hours before the announcement, offering insiders ample time to position themselves.

Retail investors traded more than whales, but whales made more profits than retail. Five days after the TRUMP began trading, over 60 whales had made +$10M. The TRUMP craze elicited mixed views, with some praising it as a historic on-chain wealth creation phenomenon, while others criticized it as 'extractive,' 'exploitative,' and a 'pump and dump scheme.'

Corey Frayer, a former crypto advisor to the SEC, castigated the President, stating, "The president is participating in shady crypto schemes that harm investors while at the same time appointing financial regulators who will roll back protections for victims and who may insulate him and his family from enforcement."